


At The Break Of Dawn

by AgentOfShip



Series: Four Weeks series [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Bonnets, Engagement, F/M, Fluff, Historical AU, Kissing, MCU Kink Bingo, Regency Era, Tooth Rotting Fluff, Tumblr: marvelfluffbingo, Valentine's Day Challenge, balcony, kissing at dawn, trope love confession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-09
Updated: 2019-02-09
Packaged: 2019-10-25 00:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17714996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentOfShip/pseuds/AgentOfShip
Summary: When her neighbor and dearest friend finds yet another ridiculous excuse to be alone with her, Miss Jemma Simmons decides that it's time they had a serious conversation about his intentions.This story is part of my Four Weeks series but is a prequel, so it's not necessary to have read the first one. Regency Era Fitzsimmons AUSquare Love Confession for MCU Kink Bingo.Square Historical AU for Marvel Fluff Bingo.Prompt "Kissing at dawn" for Quakeriderwritersguild's Valentine Day challenge on Tumblr :)





	At The Break Of Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the wonderful @LibbyWeasley and her very helpful knowledge of everything Regency Era :)

Jemma stirred in bed as her mind slowly started to slip back into consciousness. She cracked a careful eye open and promptly closed it again. The sun was barely starting to peek over the horizon and everything was still quiet in the house. It must not even be six in the morning, she could stay in bed a little longer. She usually liked waking up with the sun but it was much more difficult in the summer when it rose so early. And it was especially difficult when she had gone to bed so late, having spent the evening in Leo's library, talking about the books he'd gotten for her, while everyone else was playing cards or listening to Daisy singing and playing the piano. She stretched her limbs and sighed contentedly as she rolled over onto her back.

Thinking about Leo had always made her smile, ever since the Fitzes had bought the property across the river twelve years ago and he had shyly come to introduce himself to her and her sisters. Which, in retrospect, was probably the bravest thing she'd ever witnessed coming from a six-year-old boy. What she couldn't remember with precision was the moment Leo had started making her sigh as well. It probably had to do with the way his wonderfully expressive face had turned from adorable to distractingly handsome. But it wasn't just that of course. A handsome face wasn't the most difficult thing to find in a man when you were a debutante coming from a rich family. Since she'd come out a year ago and men had started courting her, she'd received hundreds of compliments but none that couldn't be used to also describe a flower or even a pretty dress. Leo was different. He was not only smart and funny and wonderfully strange himself, but he also really listened to her and made fun of her when she was being silly, and appreciated her for everything she was, not just her name or her pretty face. And there wasn't a thing he wouldn't tell her just because she was a lady.

Well, except maybe that one very important thing.

For over a year, she had often caught him staring at her when he thought she wasn't looking. It was like she hung the moon and the stars, and sometimes even like she was the sun itself. A few times, she thought he was finally about to say something, declare his feelings for her, or anything that would help move things along even just a little bit. She'd encouraged him as much as she could, smiled at him, locked her eyes on him, touched him as often as propriety allowed it (however frustrating it could be when she just wanted to take him in her arms), but she'd been disappointed every time. He would always suddenly break eye contact or remember about an errand he had to run, and leave without talking about how their beautiful friendship had evolved into something even bigger. By now, she thought her feelings were just as obvious as his were. So why didn't he do or say anything? It wasn't like he was some stranger who needed to court her to expect a favorable answer to his marriage proposal. He was Leo and he was her favorite person in the world. He should know that there was nothing more important than that.

A small noise made her eyes flutter open once more. Something had hit her window it seemed, but she couldn't see a thing so she closed her eyes again, allowing herself just a few more minutes in the comfort of her bed. The noise came again, and then again a few seconds later. Jemma opened her eyes for good. There wasn't a bird or anything else, and it didn't sound like the wind was strong enough to make anything hit her window like that. The next time, she saw something small hit the glass before falling to the ground, a small pebble it seemed. Maybe that was also what had woken her up earlier. It wasn't like her to wake up on her own after having slept so little.

Sighing, in exasperation this time, she pushed the sheets and covers back and stood up from her bed. She wouldn't go back to sleep anyway. She started walking towards the balcony but then thought better of it and went back to put her shawl over her shoulders. It might be summer but it was still early (and England) and she was wearing her fine muslin nightgown with short sleeves and that lovely low neckline. She didn't want to risk catching something and spending half the summer bed-ridden.

When she finally opened the door to her small balcony, she, indeed, found a small stack of black pebbles, just like the ones you found right under her window. She frowned and shivered as she took a few more steps and bent slightly over the railing. 

"Leo?!" she half-whispered.

"Oh hello, Jemma," he said with a smile he tried to pass as confident. But Jemma knew him better than that.

"Did you throw all those pebbles on my balcony?"

"Well, yes."

"Why?"

"To get your attention, of course!" he replied and she rolled her eyes. Either it was too early for his brain to be fully awake, or he was delaying his answer on purpose.

"Yes, I guessed that part on my own, Leo. But why did you want my attention at such a time of day?"

"Oh. Well, I brought you back your bonnet. You left it in the library last night," he replied, lifting it up in one hand to show her.

Her eyes widened and she studied him for a moment. He looked rather serious but he still had that too exaggeratedly confident smile on his face.

"You came here before the sun, or anyone in this house, or probably in England, was up, to bring me back my bonnet?" she asked to make sure she heard him correctly.

"Yes," he repeated. "I would have come last night when I saw it, but it was so late already. I didn't want to be a bother."

And of course, there was also _that_. He kept inventing the most absurd excuses to see her. Alone, as often as was possible. But, still, he didn’t declare his feelings to her. She didn't know if it was more ridiculous, infuriating or adorable, but she supposed it made sense in a way because those had always been some of his most noticeable traits. Along with being kind and smart, and all kinds of wonderful.

This had to stop. So she breathed in and out deeply and sighed as she made a decision she hoped she wouldn't regret.

"Well, come on up, I cannot possibly reach that bonnet from here," she said as she leaned over the railing to give him a daring smile. 

He grinned back at her as he seemed to consider what to do with the bonnet, then loosely tied it around his neck. Jemma had to put her hand in front of her mouth not to laugh out loud. He truly was a ridiculous boy. Then, like they did so many times when they were children, he started climbing up the lattice conveniently attached to the wall a little to the left of her balcony, then quite easily reached the railing once he was on top, and climbed over it with the help of Jemma's hand. Back when they were younger, Jemma had always grinned at the thought of how scandalized her mother would be if she saw them _almost_ damaging her plants. But now that she was alone, wearing only her nightgown in presence of an adult man, Jemma thought her mother might pass out.

Once he reached safety, Fitz untied the bonnet and gave it to her with a small smile, then started looking at her like _that_ again without saying a thing. She felt her cheeks grow hot despite the cold morning air. The adoration in his eyes always had that effect on her, especially now that she wore next to nothing, and with her braided hair so messy and not presentable.

Her education was inciting her to just thank him, send him on his way, and ask him to come back once she'd had the time to slip into proper clothes. But they'd been friends for years and _he_ would never let such a ridiculous response to pass without saying anything.

"Leo, you know my family is quite wealthy, don't you?" she asked, her posture and voice as confident as they could be in her state of almost undress.

"Yes, of course," he replied, the answer so obvious that his brows furrowed in confusion as he tried to understand why she would ask it in the first place.

"So you know procuring clothing has never been a problem?"

"Yes..."

"So you must realize that I actually have more bonnets than I can count," she finished, raising her eyebrows as high as she could until realization finally dawned on him.

Oh," he simply let out, his cheeks tinting pink adorably. "I didn't think of that, I just—"

"Of course you did," she cut him off. "You just thought it was a good enough excuse and that I wouldn't call you out on it any more than I did the previous times."

"What?"

She let the bonnet fall to the ground and took the few steps separating them on the small balcony. Hesitating for just a second then, she put her hands on his chest.

"Jemma?" he asked, his eyes going wide with panic and, hopefully, something else as well.

She pushed up on the tip of her toes and pressed her lips to his. He made a squeaky sound of surprise and for a long moment, they remained perfectly still, their lips touching and not moving. Only when she was starting to think she got it all wrong after all and pulled back, did he finally start kissing her back. He chased her lips for just a second and his hand ended up on her shoulder, keeping her close, like he was afraid she could go much further than a few steps away.

When she looked up into his eyes, they were wide and intense, and his face was now a deep shade of red.

"Jemma?" he repeated, his voice barely more than a whisper.

"Yes, I believe that is my name," she replied, smiling up at him before continuing. "Leo, we've always been best friends, haven't we?"

"Yes."

"And we've always told each other everything?"

"Yes, we have."

"So I think it's time we talked about why you're here," she finally declared, giving him a serious look that obviously meant that by "we", she actually meant "you".

"To bring your bonnet back to you?" he proposed with the beginning of a smile pulling the corners of his lips.

"No." She squinted her eyes at him.

"To watch the sunrise?" he said, openly teasing this time.

"Better, I guess," she replied. At least, that did sound quite romantic. "But no. I think you're here to talk about the fact that you have fallen in love with me as much as I have fallen in love with you," she declared with an apparent composure that didn't reflect the turmoil inside her.

"Actually," he replied, his shaky voice betraying the intensity of his own emotions. "You're wrong about that. I am not in love with you," he declared, and her heart broke for a second. "Love couldn't even begin to describe how I feel about you. But I suppose I'm going to have to use that word until I find a better one," he finally said, his beautiful blue eyes sparkling as the rising sun reflected in them.

Jemma released a harsh breath of relief and swatted his chest weakly as her eyes started filling with tears of joy.

"Then why did I have to tear the words out of your lips myself? You know it's not the way it usually goes, don't you?"

"Oh, Jemma, isn't it obvious?" he replied and she shook her head vehemently. Would she ask the question if she thought the answer was so obvious? "You live here, in the biggest, most beautiful estate in South Yorkshire, and your family can afford hundreds of bonnets and anything else you might want or need. All I can offer is my modest house on the other side of the river, grounds you can cross on foot from one end to the other in less than five minutes, and well, I suppose the bonnets wouldn't be a problem, but everything else might be lacking."

"Oh Leo," she said with a fond laugh. "And you think I care about any of that?" she asked, and from the look on his face, the answer to _her_ question was not quite so obvious either it seemed. To be fair, most girls she knew would care about all those things. Her parents might as well, but she would worry about that later.

"Who else is going to get me all those books that make everyone else feel queasy? Who else is going to listen to me talk about them and speak with me like I truly am an equal? And even if there was someone else like that, they wouldn't have known me since I was a little girl and wouldn't have a smile that makes my heart beat faster."

She was breathless when she stopped talking and she thought tears might have started falling from her eyes, but she didn't care. When the cause of it was the way he looked at her, with that smile on his lips and that light in his eyes, she knew it just meant that her happiness couldn't be contained inside her body anymore.

"Jemma?" he asked again, and she thought she had never loved the sound of her name more than right at this moment, his voice low and shaky with happiness.

"Yes, Leo?"

His hand went up from her shoulder to her face and he grazed the apple of her cheek with his thumb. Jemma let out a shuddering breath just before his mouth touched hers once more. This time, he moved his lips against hers, ever so gently, and it felt wonderful. They were warm and soft and tasted of tea and honey. He parted his lips slightly then, trapping her lower lip between his and she felt so lightheaded that she had to lock her arms behind his neck not to lose balance. His other hand came to rest lightly on her waist and the thrill of feeling his warm skin through her thin nightgown made her moan out loud. His kisses became more urgent then, his grip on her waist tighter, and she melted into it. It was exactly like she'd imagined it and she didn't think anything else could ever feel this glorious.

"All I need is you and lots of bonnets anyway," she whispered breathlessly against his lips when they broke apart, and he burst out laughing, kissing her cheek, then burying his face in her hair to try and muffle the sound of it.

"I suppose there's a question I should ask you now," he said, looking back into her eyes once he regained his composure.

"Yes, you probably should," she replied with a mischievous grin. "It really isn't proper to kiss a lady without her being your—"  
He cut her off with another kiss, this one even more passionate and uninhibited and incredibly wonderful. That was the Leo she always knew: brave and sweet and fully committed to everything he did. His hand slid from her face to her neck and she shivered as she let out a small sigh of contentment. Her arms tightened around his neck and her shawl slid off her shoulders. She shivered as a gust of cold air brushed her skin, and Fitz only hesitated a second before winding his arms tight around her shoulders. She squeaked in delight. As with everything else, Leo was a fast learner. This time, she was the one to capture his full lower lip and he groaned as he pulled her even closer, practically lifting her from the ground. She loved how much smaller she felt when she was in his arms. She brushed her tongue over his lips and his hand slid into her hair ever so delightfully.

"Jemma," he mumbled against her mouth, his tone low and a little surprised, and she laughed lightly before capturing his lips again.

She was only discovering this side of him and she wasn't about to stop so soon. They kissed until the sun hit the top of the trees, stopping only to breathe, too absorbed in each other to break further than a few inches apart. Jemma’s maid would soon be here to help dress and she had to send him away after all. Leo's question was whispered against her lips and she answered him with a kiss. He climbed down the balcony then, and she watched him go until he disappeared behind the line of trees, giggling happily every time he looked back at her and almost tripped over his own feet.

The sun was high enough to warm her skin by the time she finally went back inside, but it was nothing compared to the warmth that had settled in her chest. The memory of their kisses and the promise of their future would keep her warm for all the cold and rainy days that might be ahead of them.


End file.
